


Diablo 4: Or How Tony and Loki Saved Sanctuary

by LokasennaHiddleston



Category: Diablo (Video Game), Diablo II, Diablo III, Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Avenger Loki, BAMF Loki, BAMF Tony, Crack, Fix-It, Games, Humor, International Fanworks Day 2016, M/M, Spoilers, Tony is a fanboy, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-14 04:33:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5729668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LokasennaHiddleston/pseuds/LokasennaHiddleston
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony loves Diablo, but he really hates unhappy endings. There's enough of that in real life.<br/>But never fear, the God of Mischief is here! Loki is quite happy to transport himself and Tony to Sanctuary. The Great Evils will never know what hit them. And for once, Tony can avenge a different world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Diablo 4: Or How Tony and Loki Saved Sanctuary

**Author's Note:**

> So it's apparently International Fanworks Day, and coincidentally, I'm going through a Diablo phase. So - I wrote a thing. It contains a lot of DIABLO SPOILERS so if you haven't finished the third game, you probably shouldn't read this. If you haven't played Diablo at all, you probably won't understand much of what is going on.  
> Happy reading, enjoy, and love fandoms! (Also, don't worry, I will be back to my other WIPs).

"Well, this sucks."

Tony logged off his BattleNet account, feeling quite frankly depressed. Behind him, Loki let out an absent-minded hum.

"What sucks?"

He wasn't paying attention—which was obvious because if he had, he wouldn't have actually repeated the profanity. Instead, he'd have said something along the line of "What seems to be the problem, Anthony?" in that Shakespearean way that somehow managed to sound completely right on his damn silver tongue.

Normally, just hearing Loki's voice would have been soothing, but right now, Tony was still pissed. "This ending. This fucking shitty ending."

Something in his tone alerted Loki and his God of Mischief lifted his eyes from his book. It was a collection of Russian fairytales, Tony noted. Maybe Loki liked happy endings too.

"What seems to be the problem?" Loki asked, and Tony almost laughed because he'd got it perfectly right. "What ending?"

Tony pointed to his screen. "Remember the game I was excited about a while later?"

"How could I not remember?" Loki grimaced. "I could have never thought you would do something as plebeian as play a video game. You are fortunate I consider it temporary madness."

"Yes, well, don't knock it till you've tried it. Diablo is like... a legend."

Loki still looked unimpressed. It was a little hard for Tony to explain that he'd been there all throughout the progress of Diablo from its beginnings, when graphics had still been blocky crap and even blood splatter caused systems to lag. It was among the few games that had captured his attention—usually he liked making things, not playing them—but when he'd been younger, and after a few close shaves, he tried to vent by murdering skeletons and zombies and lightning beetles in game, instead of crashing cars and making a general mess of himself. Sometimes, it had even worked.

One would have thought that he'd lose interest now that his life was a fucking video game—including superheroes and gods and weird ass villains with magical powers, but eh, everyone was allowed a weakness.

"Anyway, as I was saying, I just finished it. It's a very unsatisfying ending. Practically most everyone dies. Or turns evil and dies. Or might turn evil or is expected to die in the near future."

It wasn't that he hadn't expected it. Diablo had always been like that—all death and destruction and with heroes getting possessed by bad guys and leaving victory bitter. Maybe now, Tony was taking it harder, because he knew all about bitter victories in real life and he wanted things to be happy for a change, if only in a game.

Loki finally left the bed. He was smiling softly now, and he brushed a kiss over Tony's lips. He'd obviously guessed that it wasn't just about the game.

"Show me," he whispered against Tony's mouth.

Tony did. He pretty much showed Loki the cinematics of the games and filled in the holes from his own memory, explaining the bits and pieces of the storyline that had changed or where included largely in Wikis, rather than in the game itself.

At the end, Loki got a weird look on his face. "You know, Anthony... It is peculiar, but I do think that somewhere, somehow, this world might actually exist. Do you want to try to play it... for real?"

Tony gaped at Loki. "Seriously?"

Loki grinned. "Yes, seriously. I have a spell just for it. The game will remain in its current state—but you and I, we could fix it in its actual world."

"Hell, yes!" Tony shot to his feet and hugged his lover. "Lead the way, Mischief."

Loki was grinning, wide and bright, the way he did when he was enjoying the results of a prank. For a few seconds, Tony allowed himself to revel in the gift of this moment, in the knowledge that somehow, through some weird twist of destiny, he'd managed to drag Loki out of the cesspool of hate Thanos and Asgard had shoved him into.

And then, they were back to the excitement for the plan.

In less then half an hour, Tony's penthouse was adorned with a pentagram straight out of Supernatural—or Diablo, for that matter—runes, candles, skulls and every other ingredient that occurred to Loki.

"You've done this before, haven't you?"

Loki snorted. "Well, I couldn't exactly let Professor Snape die, now could I?"

And that was that. Tony didn't need anymore explanations, because in the end, he and Loki had always understood one another.

Loki pulled Tony into the pentagram and took his armored hand. Of course, Tony had brought along the armor—he wasn't an idiot, and Loki could make it invisible if someone on Sanctuary found it odd.

And then, Loki pressed their lips together, and Tony closed his eyes and let himself fall into it. An instant later, he felt the whoosh of cold air against his face—the same thing he always felt when he teleported with Loki.

When Loki broke the kiss, Tony opened his eyes. He looked around and found himself in something like a marshland. In the distance, he spotted a settlement. Kurast, perhaps?

Loki didn't immediately move. Instead, he said, "The problem is, Anthony, that this world—every world—is fundamentally marked by both good and evil. Thus, the whole premise of eliminating evil is flawed. It is perhaps clearer here than in our own universe, but the fact remains that the Great Evils will never be defeated."

Tony sighed. Yeah, he could understand that.

"Further, some things can only be born if certain dark events come to pass," Loki elaborated. "It is why we cannot change the past. It is too much of a risk."

"So what do we do then?"

"Well... I was thinking we play Diablo 4."

Loki took Tony's hand and led him up to a dark cavern. Predictably, they ran into some monsters—and seriously, a Thorned Hulk looked fucking ugly from up close. But Tony and Loki lived with the actual Hulk so they dispatched the creatures fairly quickly. Loki had a lot of fun killing spiders—apparently he found it satisfying to hack and slash too. Asgardians.

At the end of the dungeon, they met up with a boss. It was, weirdly enough, Andariel. As she spat poison at them, Tony arched a brow behind the face plate of his suit. "You know, you're not that scary. I've met the Black Widow and I've seen her when she's feeling particularly stabby. Sorry, Maiden of Anguish, you lose."

And she did lose, to a particularly vicious thrust of Loki's staff right through her heart. There was the regular screaming and flailing and the cavern shook—but in the end, when her body collapsed, Tony saw why they'd come here.

The cavern hid a sliver of the Black Soulstone that had been presumably been destroyed at the end of the third game.

There were a lot of other slivers, of course. Once again, Tony fought Duriel beneath the shifting sands of the desert, as well as other various lieutenants of evil. Belial was also out—and Loki quickly handled him, because seriously, the Lord of Lies had nothing on Loki.

Out of the Prime Evils, only Baal had emerged, and they found him in Tristram—which made Tony wonder why people even lived there since the place only ever seemed to be destroyed over and over again. Baal was naturally unleashing his evil hordes in an attempt to free the remaining Prime Evils from their captivity.

Tony took great pleasure in squashing him with the unibeam.

Sadly, just before their victory could be assured, Diablo somehow managed to emerge from the Soulstone. He was wearing Leah's guise again, and Adria was with him—which, what the fuck? How had that happened?

"Well, well. Another hero come to slay me. Have you not learned that I am impossible to destroy? Even the nephalem failed."

"The nephalem carried the powers of angels and demons," Loki said. "We are gods."

Tony grinned and took his cue. He shot straight at Diablo—and pummeled his face in, by hand. The creature didn't hold onto his disguise for long and returned to the form that had presumably been destroyed when it had fallen out of the Heavens.

As a rule, Tony didn't really display his new Aesir strength. The Avengers knew he was sleeping with Loki, but they weren't aware Loki had given him an Apple. With the enhancements from the armor, Tony's strength surpassed even Thor's.

And the repulsors made quite a mess of Diablo's demonic face.

Meanwhile, Loki was handling Adria—slowly and painfully. "You are a mockery to all mothers," Tony heard his lover say. "Thus, I will rip you limb from limb."

And yeah, Tony could see why Loki would do that. Loki had a thing about children. He didn't actually have offspring of his own, no matter what the myths said, but he really loved kids in general. They were both innocent and chaotic, and they didn't carry the hatred adults did. And Loki had really loved his Asgardian mother, Frigga.

Adria screamed, trying to ask for Diablo's help—but no such aid came. Diablo was too busy trying to defend himself from Tony's attack. He spat flame at Tony—but Tony had countless wards around him. Really, if this had been a game, they would be cheating, since Tony and Loki had fought creatures even more powerful than the Lord of Terror.

Finally, Adria's screams stopped—maybe Loki had gotten bored or something—and Loki joined Tony. After that, Diablo fell really quickly, his essence once more drawn into the Soulstone.

As the Seven Evils were once more contained, three figures manifested in the massive chamber that had been Baal's lair—Leah, Tyrael and Deckard Cain.

"You have saved Sanctuary, outlanders," Deckard Cain said. His voice was naturally, not the one Tony was familiar with, but it was very similar. Blizzard had done a good job casting him.

"I thank you for freeing me from my prison," Leah whispered with a soft smile.

"It is, indeed, a great victory for mankind," Tyrael offered.

Tony lifted the face plate of his suit. "Yes, well... It won't last. It never does. So hurry up and get your wings back. The mortality is a nice sentiment, but it's really impractical."

Tyrael's expression was hilarious. It reminded Tony a little of Steve, really, when Tony said something outrageous, surprising—or both.

"So what do we do with this now?" Tony asked. Not Tyrael, because Tyrael's choice was always to hide the damn stone and it was always, always found. He asked Loki.

"I have given the matter some thought," Loki said. "I believe the problem is that these creatures are treated as souls—but they are not souls per se. No soul is purely evil. Even Thanos—what he does, he does out of a twisted sense of love. Even the foulest of villains have motives for their deeds—it is not destruction just for destruction's sake."

"But these are the Great Evils," Cain protested. "They cannot be compared to mortal standards."

"Oh, but they must. You see, Deckard Cain, these creatures are an amalgamation of mortal sins and dark desires. They are an embodiment of all the burdens we must bear. Thus, they cannot be destroyed—but they can be torn apart and returned to their original shape."

"You are suggesting that the whole of mankind carry the burden of the Evils," Tyrael murmured.

"It's how it's supposed to be," Tony said. "Our lives our full of hatred, terror, destruction, anguish, pain, lies and sin."

"You may be right," Tyrael replied. "The great Anu might have attempted to discard this evil, but even with his power, he only succeeded in manifesting these creatures that have brought such pain."

"The outlanders are correct," Leah said. "One human heart cannot contain this evil—I know, but the souls of many? That is our true strength. Together, we can endure."

Loki handed the Soulstone to Tyrael. "This is your task, Archangel. Anthony and I must depart this realm, for your evil is not ours to bear. But I wish you the best of luck."

"You have our thanks, outlanders."

Tony smiled at Tyrael. "No problem. It was our absolute pleasure."

And he totally meant that.

Loki took his hand and together, they teleported back to their world, to Avengers Tower. "Well, that was surprisingly enjoyable," Loki said.

"Indeed it was." Tony smirked. "But as much as I love a great quest, it's always the reward that's the best."

Loki grinned back and vanished their clothes. And as he was dragged to the bedroom they shared, Tony couldn't help but think that this was the best reward any Diablo quester could expect.

****

Of course, Tony's world had its own problems, and soon, Tony was back to fighting bad guys with the Avengers, building awesome Starktech and having a lot of fun doing science and magic with Loki. So, he sort of forgot all about the thing with Diablo.

He remembered it pretty clearly when, two months after his and Loki's adventure, JARVIS sounded the alarms. "Tower perimeter breached. Intruders detected in penthouse."

JARVIS's sensors couldn't register exactly who or what was in the penthouse—just that something was there. Tony shared a look with Loki and quickly put on the suit.

As soon as he was ready, Loki teleported them to the penthouse—whereupon Tony was left gaping and just a little bit awestruck.

His home had apparently been invaded by angels.

As soon as Tony stepped within view, Imperius approached him, his great wings shining bright and gold. "Greetings, outlander. As the Great Evils have been vanquished from our world, the Angiris Council finds itself without a purpose. Thus we have decided to come to your aid, since you are the one who delivered us from this great threat."

Tony had nothing. For once, his mind was blank. Well, actually, what he was thinking was, _"Holy shit, how did I manage to import a host of angel_ _s_ _from a different world? Fuck."_

Fortunately, Loki was smoother than him. "Welcome to Midgard, Imperius, Archangel of Valor. We are pleased to learn of the success of our suggestion and we thank you for your offer. However—"

Before Loki could finish the phrase, the elevator doors opened and the rest of the Avengers burst in. If Tony had been shocked, the others didn't do much better. Tony was gratified to see Natasha looking completely out of her depth.

Bruce was the only one who actually managed to identify the host. He shuffled to Tony's side and cleared his throat. "Is that... Tyrael? And Imperius?" He had played Diablo too, although more out of curiosity than anything else.

Tony nodded, still a little dazed. "Uh... I might have done a thing."

At that, Tyrael finally approached him. "Indeed, my friend, you have done a great thing. You have saved our world of the Great Evils."

Bruce looked pained. Clint still seemed to be trying to process what was happening. Natasha was shooting Tony and Loki dark glances.

Tony decided to throw all caution to the wind and clapped his hands together. "Okay, then, you know what happens now? Party!"

The angels seemed a little reluctant at first, but then Thor brought out the Asgardian alcohol and they mellowed down a little. Soon, Thor was deep in conversation with Imperius, exchanging tales of battle and valor. Steve had somehow managed to draw Auriel's attention. The Archangel of Hope was apparently a flirty drunk. Who knew?

Natasha and Clint were talking about the nature of fate with Itherael, while Tyrael had somehow managed to coax Bruce into conversation.

Meanwhile, Tony and Loki sat to the side, watching the gathered assembly. "Well, this could have ended far worse," Tony said.

"I suppose," Loki replied, "although I have to wonder... If they're here, who's watching the Silver City?"

Tyrael must have heard the exchange, because he offered the answer to their dilemma.

"Oh, we left Deckard Cain in charge," he said. "He never did like retirement."

Somehow, Tony wasn't surprised at all.

**Author's Note:**

> For reference:  
> Prime Evils: Mephisto (Lord of Hatred), Diablo (Lord of Terror), Baal (Lord of Destruction)  
> Lesser Evils: Andariel (Maiden of Anguish), Duriel (Lord of Pain), Belial (Lord of Lies), Azmodan (Lord of Sin)  
> Anu: the first being in creation  
> The nephalem: reference to the playable char in Diablo 3  
> Archangels:  
> Imperius: Archangel of Valor  
> Tyrael: Justice/Wisdom  
> Auriel: Hope  
> Itherael: Fate  
> Malthael: Death (I don't think I mentioned him, but I might as well leave him here)
> 
> Edit: I just realized the Fandom Day was 15th Feb and not 15 Jan. That's what I get for writing at 11 pm. It's okay - I'm celebrating one whole month before. And who knows, maybe I'll write another one for the actual Fandom day :)


End file.
